Uploaded April 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Commercial aviation took shape in Hong Kong as the city developed into a powerful economy. Rather than understanding air travel as an inevitable outcome of Hong Kong's arrival in the era of global mobility.
John Wong, Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong, argues that Hong Kong's development into a regional and global hub was not preordained. During the second wave of globalization, Hong Kong weathered the Cold War geopolitical shifts, the closing and subsequent reopening of the skyways over mainland China, and the economic liberalization of its major aerial connections to extend the reach of its commercial aviation network. Viewing the globalization of Hong Kong through the prism of its airline industry, this talk examines how policymakers and businesses in Hong Kong asserted themselves alongside their international partners and competitors in a bid to accrue socioeconomic benefits, negotiated their interests in the city's economic success, and articulated their expressions of modernity.
John Wong's research focuses on the flow of people, goods, capital and ideas. With a particular interest in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta area, he explores how such flows connected the region to the Chinese political center in the north as well as their maritime partners in the South China Sea and beyond.
Professor Prasenjit Duara, Oscar Tang Chair of East Asian Studies at Duke University moderated the talk.
The event was part of Wednesdays at the Center, a series produced by Duke University's John Hope Franklin Center and the Duke Center for International & Global Studies.
Learn more about the series: https://igs.duke.edu/series/wednesdays-center-series
Commercial aviation took shape in Hong Kong as the city developed into a powerful economy. Rather than understanding air travel as an inevitable outcome of Hong Kong's arrival in the era of global mobility.
John Wong, Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong, argues that Hong Kong's development into a regional and global hub was not preordained. During the second wave of globalization, Hong Kong weathered the Cold War geopolitical shifts, the closing and subsequent reopening of the skyways over mainland China, and the economic liberalization of its major aerial connections to extend the reach of its commercial aviation network. Viewing the globalization of Hong Kong through the prism of its airline industry, this talk examines how policymakers and businesses in Hong Kong asserted themselves alongside their international partners and competitors in a bid to accrue socioeconomic benefits, negotiated their interests in the city's economic success, and articulated their expressions of modernity.
John Wong's research focuses on the flow of people, goods, capital and ideas. With a particular interest in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta area, he explores how such flows connected the region to the Chinese political center in the north as well as their maritime partners in the South China Sea and beyond.
Professor Prasenjit Duara, Oscar Tang Chair of East Asian Studies at Duke University moderated the talk.
The event was part of Wednesdays at the Center, a series produced by Duke University's John Hope Franklin Center and the Duke Center for International & Global Studies.
Learn more about the series: https://igs.duke.edu/series/wednesdays-center-series
